Multilevel converters can be used for rectifying AC to produce DC, and may also be employed to generate AC output voltages for use in motor drives or other power conversion systems. This modular form of converter finds particular use in situations where relatively large output voltages are required. Multilevel voltage source converter architectures include flying or switched capacitor designs, neutral point clamped (NPC) designs, modular multilevel converter (MMC), as well as cascaded and hybrid typologies. NPC designs include a pair of capacitors connected across a DC input providing a neutral node, with each capacitor being charged to half the DC input value, and a series of switches are connected across the DC bus, with a pair of diodes connecting intermediate switch nodes to the neutral point. These and other forms of multilevel converters may be operated using space vector modulation techniques to generate switching control signals applied to the individual multilevel converters stages, for example, to provide variable frequency, variable amplitude multiphase output voltages to drive a motor or other load. Typical space vector modulation approaches utilize all or most of the available output power that can be provided by the inverter circuit, but use of all the possible switching states in the typical space vector modulation scheme may lead to unacceptable common mode voltage in the power conversion system. Accordingly, a need remains for improved space vector modulation control of multilevel power converters to facilitate reduction in common mode voltages.